Notorious corner claims another vehicle near Penticton

Witnesses and bystanders check on the condition of occupants of a vehicle that flipped at the sharp corner on Highway 97 at the north entrance to Penticton early Tuesday morning.

Image Credit: Tanya Speirs

June 16, 2015 - 12:13 PM

PENTICTON - The sharp curve on Highway 97 at the northern entrance to Penticton was the scene of yet another crash last night, June 15.

Witness Tanya Speirs says the vehicle she was in came upon the scene, at the 90-degree corner at the intersection of West Bench Drive, around midnight, moments after it happened. She says two young women were heading south into Penticton at a high rate of speed when they hit the ditch on the right side of the highway and flipped their vehicle. Speirs says the vehicle then skidded on its roof across the West Bench Drive intersection and came to a rest in front of Doc’s Golf Centre.

Speirs says the two women, who looked to be in their teens, appeared to be shaken but otherwise unhurt. She noticed the passenger attempted to leave the scene several times while the driver was being examined by ambulance personnel.

It is not known whether the two were transported to hospital.

Speirs says she spoke with other witnesses who said the vehicle passed them on Highway 97 at a high rate of speed, then came upon the accident scene as they rounded the corner.

“We came by a moment later and turned up Westbench Drive before getting out to make sure everyone was okay,” Speirs says, noting it took at least five minutes before the first emergency vehicles showed up.

Three fire trucks, an ambulance and four police cruisers eventually attended the scene, Speirs says.

Members of Penticton RCMP were unavailable for comment prior to publishing time.

A car flipped on Highway 97 near the intesection of West Bench Drive early Tuesday morning, June 16, 2015.

Image Credit: Tanya Speirs

To contact the reporter for this story, email Steve Arstad at sarstad@infonews.ca or call 250-488-3065. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.

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